Topical delivery of clobetasol propionate loaded nanosponge hydrogel for effective treatment of psoriasis: Formulation, physicochemical characterization, antipsoriatic potential and biochemical estimation

Clobetasol propionate (CP), a superpotent topical corticosteroid, holds great promise for psoriasis treatment. However, common side effects like skin atrophy, steroidal acne, hypopigmentation and allergic contact dermatitis associated with it, hamper its utility for topical application. Taking this into consideration, the current work was aimed to fabricate CP loaded cyclodextrin nanosponge (CDNS) based hydrogel, to alleviate the aforementioned side effects, while controlling drug release. Nanosponges were crafted employing β-cyclodextrin (polymer) and diphenyl carbonate (cross linker) and evaluated appropriately. The selected formulation augmented 45 folds water solubility, with respect to pure CP. The formulation possessed entrapment efficiency (56.33 ± 0.94%), particle size (194.27 ± 49.24 nm) with polydispersitive index (0.498 ± 0.095), surface charge (-21.83 ± 0.95 mV) and drug release (86.25 ± 0.28%). Selected CP-CDNS were found crystalline and uniform in size. Further, in vitro cell viability analysis has been performed using THP1 cells to evaluate cytocompatibility of CP nanosponges. The chosen CP nanosponges were then embedded into Carbopol hydrogel, and characterized for rheological behaviour, spreadability, and texture profile. The developed nanoformulations were also assessed in vivo using mouse tail model. Histological and biochemical assessments have been conducted to explore their antipsoriatic activity via oxidative stress biomarkers. The degree of orthokeratosis was observed remarkably (p < 0.001) amplified by CP-CDNS14 hydrogel as compared to untreated group (control) and CP hydrogel. In addition, drug activity and change in epidermal thickness were found significant. Our findings altogether advocated the profound potential of prepared CP nanogel in the topical treatment of psoriasis, with improved patient compliance.

Simultaneous and fast determination of bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate in polycarbonate plastics by using excitation-emission matrix fluorescence couples with second-order calibration method

A new strategy for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) and diphenyl carbonate (DPC) in polycarbonate plastics has been proposed, combing excitation-emission matrix fluorescence and second-order chemometrics methods. The studied compounds are two of the most frequently used chemical raw materials and intermediates, which is mainly used for bio-chemical products. The method is fast and sensitive as it can avoid tedious pretreatment steps and large amounts of organic solvents consumption. Chemometrics allowed accurate and precise quantification of two target analytes even in the presence of severe spectral overlap, unknown and background interferences, which benefit from "second-order advantages" provided by chemometrics multivariate calibration. Reasonable quantification results were obtained in real plastics samples, with limits of detection for two analytes were 0.04 and 1.18 × 10³ ng mL^-1 and limits of quantitation were 0.11 and 3.58 × 10³ ng mL^-1. In addition, the average recoveries for BPA and DPC were 99.35% and 83.50% with relative standard deviation <2.30%. It was proved that the proposed method can be a useful and sensitive tool to the determination of BPA and DPC in different polycarbonate plastics with a simple sample pretreatment at low cost.

Synthesis and characterization of TiO2-V2O5-MCM-41 for catalyzing transesterification of dimethyl carbonate with phenol

A series of TiO₂-V₂O₅-MCM-41 molecular sieve catalysts were prepared by the impregnation method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by different techniques including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and N₂ adsorption–desorption. These catalysts were applied in the catalytic synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) by the transesterification of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with phenol. The synthesis results indicated that the catalysts possessed the high specific surface area and large pore volume and included titanium with four ligands. Due to the vanadium introduction into Ti-MCM-41, the catalytic activity was promoted, by-products were reduced, and the catalytic activity and stability of the catalyst were significantly improved. With 10%V-20%Ti-MCM-41 catalyst, the optimal synthesis results including the conversion rate of DMC of 33.88%, the selectivity of DPC of 35.84%, and the yield of DPC of 12.14% were obtained.